An overview of early Epigravettian techno-economic behavior in northern and western Adriatic area

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview, mostly focused on lithic technology, of the human occupation of the northern and western Adriatic areas at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 24,000- 20,000 calBP). Is then advanced a point of view on the role, in the early Epigravettian hunter-gatherers settlement system, of the once exposed Great Adriatic Plain, suggesting that while the areas around the plain attracted specialized activities, the plain itself probably acted as residential area. The progressive reduction of the plain by the end of the LGM is paralleled by the southward diffusion of early Epigravettian assemblages within archaeological contexts increasingly consistent with palimpsests of diversified activities. This is interpreted as a reorganization of Epigravettian settlement systems due to geographical and paleoenvironmental modifications.